The Mysterious Mr. Enter / Jonathan Rozanski's "Growing Around" - IndieGoGo Campaign Failed, John going off the deep end, "Turning Red" is ignorant about 9/11 (later retracted)

[Tragedy of the Senate]

You know, a lot of people seem to assume that Growing Around is meant to be Enter's utopia - a place where he's free to be a manchild, while actual adults like his parents are abused relentlessly - but I actually don't think that's the intention. Looking through his other content, he doesn't seem to value children's autonomy more than anyone else, and in some cases, he seems to value it less. In fact, in his COPPA video, he goes as far as to support the notion that it should be illegal for anyone under 13 to watch YouTube.

When trying to understand why Enter is doing something, we need to remember who we're dealing with. This is the same person who said Growing Around was supposed to teach kids that it's okay to grow up, even though that moral is fundamentally incompatible with the premise. It's the same person who wrote an episode about fighting sexism that was all about characters fighting to be put into stereotypes. It's the same person who tried to write an episode about how swearing isn't that bad, but ended up describing full-blown slurs instead. It's the person who tried to write an episode on how masculinity is good that still somehow ended up with the masculine role model wearing a dress.

By assuming that Growing Around is Enter's personal utopia, you also make the incorrect assumption that Enter actually knows how to create something on purpose - that Enter would be able to deliberately turn his utopia into a shitty concept for a cartoon. I don't think he seriously thinks kids should rule the world. He's always saying how Growing Around is all about growing up, and quite honestly, I think that's the legitimate intention. In his bizarro world, a concept like "kids rule and adults have no rights" is the best way to teach kids that growing up is okay. Whatever the intention behind GA is, I can wager you that it's very different to what he actually created.

That's something I still don't get. How is it best to teach kids that growing up is okay by having them lose power as they get older? If I were watching this is a kid, the message I'd get is, "Adulthood sucks," which is the same message Enter's also trying to not give.

He's been explaining how he hates how that message was done in a show like Sabrina: The Animated Series, but his approach is no better. In most cartoons, the message isn't that adulthood sucks; it's that children should enjoy their childhood while they can and shouldn't rush to be an adult. In Growing Around, the children seem to have it pretty good outside of little arguments (normal childhood), and the adults are either portrayed as miserable in Autumn's case or passively going through life as shown with the other adults.

All of this gets more confusing when you remember that Enter finds his adulthood way better than his childhood. You would think he'd have written Growing Around like how he views his life. Focus on a character who's in an (allegedly) bad family and who over the years grows to be happier and way better of than he or she was as a child. Again, while Growing Around has an incredible amount of problems, I think the role reversal is one of - if not - the biggest. It doesn't improve the show in any way, it's just a limiting anchor.

 

[Deadman]

All of this gets more confusing when you remember that Enter finds his adulthood way better than his childhood.

Are you sure about that? From the way he writes about adults growing around, it can be inferred that enter does not Really like being a adult.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

Are you sure about that? From the way he writes about adults growing around, it can be inferred that enter does not Really like being a adult.

1. Once again, you are thinking like a neurotypical. You need to break out of default mental patterns to try and decipher the behavior of lolcows that have genuine mental issues beyond simple narcissism.

Spoiler: 2. A theory of the psychology of Rozanski and "Growing Around"

However, my current theory is simply that Enter's life thus far has been him trying to find something he's genuinely passionate about (as opposed to obsessive about) and, thus far, failing repeatedly. He does not like being a child, nor does he like being an adult, because he has yet to find something that makes him genuinely happy (as opposed to transitory pleasure)- this manifests in his wandering attention from project to project outside of Growing Around, which serves more as a place to mentally exorcise his obsessive thoughts about pop culture than a genuine work. The reappearance of several themes in rapid succession is particularly notable; in individuals with graphomania (an obsessive-compulsive behavior where individuals will write massive amounts of text in marathon sessions), you frequently see repetitive phrases, paragraphs, or sometimes entire pages appear again and again, with slight variations, throughout a given sample. This is an attempt to remove an obsessive thought by "pinning it to the page"- the repetition is caused by given attempts not giving the feeling of "completeness" described by OCD individuals when a given obsessive thought is indulged. It's the same reason why more typical OCD cases might check a lock ten or fifteen times- while they objectively know the door is locked, there is a very deep feeling that it is not that must be addressed.

 

[Just_a_Bored_Guy]

1. Once again, you are thinking like a neurotypical. You need to break out of default mental patterns to try and decipher the behavior of lolcows that have genuine mental issues beyond simple narcissism.

Spoiler: 2. A theory of the psychology of Rozanski and "Growing Around"

However, my current theory is simply that Enter's life thus far has been him trying to find something he's genuinely passionate about (as opposed to obsessive about) and, thus far, failing repeatedly. He does not like being a child, nor does he like being an adult, because he has yet to find something that makes him genuinely happy (as opposed to transitory pleasure)- this manifests in his wandering attention from project to project outside of Growing Around, which serves more as a place to mentally exorcise his obsessive thoughts about pop culture than a genuine work. The reappearance of several themes in rapid succession is particularly notable; in individuals with graphomania (an obsessive-compulsive behavior where individuals will write massive amounts of text in marathon sessions), you frequently see repetitive phrases, paragraphs, or sometimes entire pages appear again and again, with slight variations, throughout a given sample. This is an attempt to remove an obsessive thought by "pinning it to the page"- the repetition is caused by given attempts not giving the feeling of "completeness" described by OCD individuals when a given obsessive thought is indulged. It's the same reason why more typical OCD cases might check a lock ten or fifteen times- while they objectively know the door is locked, there is a very deep feeling that it is not that must be addressed.

I think the second point is very likely. I remember a long time ago Enter would somewhat sadly remark how his Asperger's incited his interests in things like reviewing, and how he dreaded the eventual crash of them. IIRC, that's why he stopped reviewing My Little Pony.

 

[Chilson]

You know, a lot of people seem to assume that Growing Around is meant to be Enter's utopia - a place where he's free to be a manchild, while actual adults like his parents are abused relentlessly - but I actually don't think that's the intention. Looking through his other content, he doesn't seem to value children's autonomy more than anyone else, and in some cases, he seems to value it less. In fact, in his COPPA video, he goes as far as to support the notion that it should be illegal for anyone under 13 to watch YouTube.

When trying to understand why Enter is doing something, we need to remember who we're dealing with. This is the same person who said Growing Around was supposed to teach kids that it's okay to grow up, even though that moral is fundamentally incompatible with the premise. It's the same person who wrote an episode about fighting sexism that was all about characters fighting to be put into stereotypes. It's the same person who tried to write an episode about how swearing isn't that bad, but ended up describing full-blown slurs instead. It's the person who tried to write an episode on how masculinity is good that still somehow ended up with the masculine role model wearing a dress.

By assuming that Growing Around is Enter's personal utopia, you also make the incorrect assumption that Enter actually knows how to create something on purpose - that Enter would be able to deliberately turn his utopia into a shitty concept for a cartoon. I don't think he seriously thinks kids should rule the world. He's always saying how Growing Around is all about growing up, and quite honestly, I think that's the legitimate intention. In his bizarro world, a concept like "kids rule and adults have no rights" is the best way to teach kids that growing up is okay. Whatever the intention behind GA is, I can wager you that it's very different to what he actually created.

Its rather simple, to enter being an adult in that fucked up "utopia" he created is his ideal world. While normal people see these adults as having no authority and forced to do a bunch of horrific bullshit by children, in enter's fucked up autismo mind that translates to adults no longer being responsible and given easy/"fun" to accomplish tasks by a group of easily impressed children.

Enter above all else doesn't want responsibility for anything, but also wants to eat his cake to by being praised for doing a bunch of tortuous "fun" tasks for stupid children.

 

[Trappin in the Trap]

1. Once again, you are thinking like a neurotypical. You need to break out of default mental patterns to try and decipher the behavior of lolcows that have genuine mental issues beyond simple narcissism.

Spoiler: 2. A theory of the psychology of Rozanski and "Growing Around"

However, my current theory is simply that Enter's life thus far has been him trying to find something he's genuinely passionate about (as opposed to obsessive about) and, thus far, failing repeatedly. He does not like being a child, nor does he like being an adult, because he has yet to find something that makes him genuinely happy (as opposed to transitory pleasure)- this manifests in his wandering attention from project to project outside of Growing Around, which serves more as a place to mentally exorcise his obsessive thoughts about pop culture than a genuine work. The reappearance of several themes in rapid succession is particularly notable; in individuals with graphomania (an obsessive-compulsive behavior where individuals will write massive amounts of text in marathon sessions), you frequently see repetitive phrases, paragraphs, or sometimes entire pages appear again and again, with slight variations, throughout a given sample. This is an attempt to remove an obsessive thought by "pinning it to the page"- the repetition is caused by given attempts not giving the feeling of "completeness" described by OCD individuals when a given obsessive thought is indulged. It's the same reason why more typical OCD cases might check a lock ten or fifteen times- while they objectively know the door is locked, there is a very deep feeling that it is not that must be addressed.

So then let's look at this in terms of Enter's future. He's already tried to find his "thing" for years at this point, he keeps bouncing from one to another, never really finding it. He seems really close-minded when it comes to hobbies or interests outside of art, writing and video games, all things that you can do from inside your room. He can't/won't change his behaviour, so the chances of him finding something to satisfy the hole in his life are zero unless that thing comes to him.
Unless I'm really off-base here, is Enter just gonna end up spinning his wheels until the end of his existence on the internet, craving something that he can never have because of his own nature?

Feelsbadman.

 

[CoconutCat]

All of this gets more confusing when you remember that Enter finds his adulthood way better than his childhood. You would think he'd have written Growing Around like how he views his life. Focus on a character who's in an (allegedly) bad family and who over the years grows to be happier and way better of than he or she was as a child.

Are you sure about that? From the way he writes about adults growing around, it can be inferred that enter does not Really like being a adult.

Its rather simple, to enter being an adult in that fucked up "utopia" he created is his ideal world. While normal people see these adults as having no authority and forced to do a bunch of horrific bullshit by children, in enter's fucked up autismo mind that translates to adults no longer being responsible and given easy/"fun" to accomplish tasks by a group of easily impressed children.

Enter above all else doesn't want responsibility for anything, but also wants to eat his cake to by being praised for doing a bunch of tortuous "fun" tasks for stupid children.

This is the problem I was talking about: you're assuming that Enter is actually capable of communicating his thoughts. You're asking "what would cause someone to create Growing Around" and not "what would cause Enter to create Growing Around". If we want to understand how Enter's mind works, we need to analyse what he thinks he's creating, not how we perceive his creations. You can't rely on the communication skills of someone who's incapable of communicating properly.

Enter thinks his show teaches kids about growing up. It doesn't, but in his mind it does.

 

[coach_mclurk]

To my knowledge, Enter has never communicated this but I think in his mind GA is supposed to teach kids growing up is ok because the adults have shitty lives in the GA universe which is an inversion of the real world, so he's saying it would be opposite irl and adulthood is good irl.

And yeah, GA is no longer about being an entertaining cartoon, it's about Enter working out his mental problems, similar to how in his old videos he had a wise old man persona advising him on how to be a better person and shit. Even diehard fans on his discord are taking notice and not liking the soapbox writing.

 

[Robert James]

Its rather simple, to enter being an adult in that fucked up "utopia" he created is his ideal world. While normal people see these adults as having no authority and forced to do a bunch of horrific bullshit by children, in enter's fucked up autismo mind that translates to adults no longer being responsible and given easy/"fun" to accomplish tasks by a group of easily impressed children.

Enter above all else doesn't want responsibility for anything, but also wants to eat his cake to by being praised for doing a bunch of tortuous "fun" tasks for stupid children.

Also there is the state mandated hook up facilities, pressure to marry to gain any autonomy back, the need to have children to even be slightly free, and the fact that all you have to do is go to school to learn how to have fun after you have a few kids. Just like Chris enter is using his fictional world to end his love quest because meeting girls in the real world is scary/hard.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

So then let's look at this in terms of Enter's future. He's already tried to find his "thing" for years at this point, he keeps bouncing from one to another, never really finding it. He seems really close-minded when it comes to hobbies or interests outside of art, writing and video games, all things that you can do from inside your room. He can't/won't change his behaviour, so the chances of him finding something to satisfy the hole in his life are zero unless that thing comes to him.
Unless I'm really off-base here, is Enter just gonna end up spinning his wheels until the end of his existence on the internet, craving something that he can never have because of his own nature?

Feelsbadman.

Sadly, I think that's the case: so long as Enter refuses to acknowledge that his disordered behaviors are a problem, he's likely never going to find satisfaction and be unhappy for the rest of his life. Even Schopenhauer's escape for those who "can only ever want what they do not have"- to live as an ascetic and decouple the "subject-self" that observes and acts from the "object-self" that desires- would require him to break his obsessions.
One of the more tragic lolcows, IMO.

 

[LiquidKid]

It's been quiet around here. What's the Discord server up to?
View attachment 1392457
View attachment 1392458

Over-explaining mundane shit again? Look, it's not rocket science. If there's any trace of evidence that the story happened, it's canon. If there's proof the story couldn't possibly happen, it's non-canon. Half-canon or "sort of canon" is literally impossible and to say otherwise makes you look like a pretentious fuck. "It's canon, but they won't remember all the details" is a completely reasonable answer.

Well Psuedo-canon can exist, but that’s for very specific circumstances. Jimmy Timmy Power Hour was pseudo-canon because though it was not canonical in either show, it was a series in itself and that series relied upon the established canon of those shows, created the middle ground. You just don’t see this very often because it only exists in the small window of non-canon works that get continuations.

 

[Just_a_Bored_Guy]

Found something:

https://twitter.com/Crimson_Mayhem_/status/1274176036171919360 (a)

 

[Wabbu]

Found something:
View attachment 1397582
https://twitter.com/Crimson_Mayhem_/status/1274176036171919360 (a)

"Don't ping me. Ever" energy

 

[Icarus B. Nezzer]

Well Psuedo-canon can exist, but that’s for very specific circumstances. Jimmy Timmy Power Hour was pseudo-canon because though it was not canonical in either show, it was a series in itself and that series relied upon the established canon of those shows, created the middle ground. You just don’t see this very often because it only exists in the small window of non-canon works that get continuations.

Pseduo-canon is a whole other can of worms, but at least the Jimmy Timmy stuff is consistent. While neither show is allowed to mention the other outside of their crossover, there's no conflicting evidence as to whether the films are canon or non-canon (although in FOP's case, most nitpicky signs point to "canon.") Enter talks about how his show's crossover was "All just a dream... OR WAS IT?" just so he can pick and choose which developments will carry over and which will be actively retconned.

 

[BlueCandle]

Apparently Sally fucking DIES in season six.

 

[dunbrine47]

View attachment 1397765

Apparently Sally fucking DIES in season six.

The sweet release of death.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

View attachment 1397765

Apparently Sally fucking DIES in season six.

What a nice way to end a children's cartoon, with the death of the main character. I'm sure that would fly today.

 

[OmnipotentStupidity]

View attachment 1397765

Apparently Sally fucking DIES in season six.

Ah yes the best part of growing up:

The realization of your own mortality in this mortal coil, and welcoming the sweet embrace of D E A T H.

Enter what the fuck

 

[Bunny Tracks]

View attachment 1397765

Apparently Sally fucking DIES in season six.

Not gonna lie, I did not see that coming.

That's fucked up even for GA.

 

[Wabbu]

Reading some GA, scripts there's one where Max runs a fetish club:

Max: Oh that. Well since I am the owner of this establishment, Frilly pink dresses are required to enter this establishment. We have a certain dress code, and if you don’t want to adhere to it, I’m afraid I’ll just have to ask you to leave. Oh wait, I’m not afraid. I’m quite happy to do it. Cuz you’re a jerk.